France 2014 - Part 3

April 10 – Thursday

Early breakfast again at the hotel, then back to the Metro to go to the Louvre. There, we had a dedicated museum guide, Eneka, who provided a two-hour-plus overview. We saw all the highlights, but didn’t begin to scratch the surface. 

Our friend, Bob Schwenck, would have been very frustrated because the dense crowds prevented really taking the time to contemplate the artwork. We got there at opening, but it was still jam-packed and grew worse as the morning went on.

The Winged Victory—one of the museum’s masterpieces—was not on display as they were renovating the staircase where it usually stands. We did see the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa as well as many other iconic works. (It was impossible to get anywhere near the Mona Lisa, and because she is now behind glass, her eyes no longer appear to follow you.)

We finished our guided tour at noon. Some people chose to stay in the museum for the afternoon, but we decided to walk through the Tuileries Gardens (Jardin des Tuileries) and eat outdoors there. Wonderful decision.

We’d been very hot inside the museum, and the fresh air and slight breeze outside felt refreshing. We stopped at a small café in the center of the garden. I had a traditional chicken sandwich on a baguette and Larry decided on the quiche Lorraine again. (He said it was good, but the ones we’d had the first two nights were better.)

We walked to the Place de la Concorde, where we saw the obelisk and looked down the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. Back to the Metro, we took the train to our hotel.

After a short rest, we walked to Rue Cler where I had seen some scarves I liked. We bought some for Christmas gifts as well as small Eiffel Towers for ornaments. Then, after ice cream cones, we returned to the hotel for a short nap.

When we awoke, we stopped at the ATM for more cash, then went back to the same restaurant where we’d eaten the night before. This time, I had the Caesar salad (with chicken, eggs, and tomato in addition to the cheese and croutons). Larry ordered the special dessert with coffee ice cream, coffee syrup, and lots of whipped cream. Of course, he ate some of my salad as well as his dessert. I ordered a single scoop of coffee ice cream. When it arrived, however, it didn’t taste like coffee. It was more like salted caramel, but it was very good. Larry had to try some to be sure it wasn’t coffee-flavored.

Back to the hotel to pack in preparation for our departure the next morning.

April 11 – Friday

Up at 6:45 a.m. for breakfast and then packed and in the lobby for our 8:00 departure. Our bus arrived along with our driver, Renè.

We headed out of the city for the countryside. 

On the way, Virginie gave us quite a bit of history as well as telling us about life in France. She also taught us a word of the day in French so our vocabularies were growing. She added at least one new word each day of the tour. Of course, we had our French phrasebooks with us at all times. In Paris it was quite easy to manage with very few French words since most people in the stores and restaurants spoke some English. However, in the countryside, many fewer people spoke or understood English, so it was our obligation to attempt to use the local language.

Our first stop of the day was Cháteau de Guédelon, a medieval castle being constructed using only the tools and techniques which would have been employed during the 13^th century. Construction on this fortress had begun about sixteen years earlier. A few regular workers were paid, but in the summer, many volunteers joined the force.

During the early years, many archaeologists, castleologists, and historians were consulted on the design and construction techniques. By the time of our visit, those same groups were consulting with the builders since they now knew more about how these structures were actually created. Some commonly held assumptions have been negated, and new discoveries have been made along the way.

We really enjoyed our visit and our guided tour of the various buildings. Our guide, Hein, showed us some of the actual techniques and tools used as well as some of the finished rooms and structures.

During our tour, one of the gals in our group, Linda, became quite ill and had to be transported to the small makeshift infirmary on the property. (She later joked she actually did it so she could be carried on a liter by the four handsome young workmen!)

Lunch consisted of sandwiches and dessert in the picnic area. While Larry went back onto the site to take more photos, I went to the gift shop and picked up a few more gifts. What a fun place! It is now a must-see location for school groups so they can learn about their history. I wanted to be one of those kids!

Back on the bus, Linda said she felt a little better after resting, but as we drove through the Loire valley, she worsened. We arrived in Bourges, a small medieval town in the Burgundy region with a large cathedral. While others in the group took her luggage, Linda was assisted to the hotel Best Western Hôtel Angleterre Bourges and settled into a room. The rest of us checked in and then joined our city guide, Hélène, for a walking tour.

This town still had many of the original medieval half-timbered houses. Over five hundred remained, the most of any town in France. These were well-preserved and still occupied. The town was originally surrounded by a fourth-century Roman wall, some of which was still visible.

The cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Bourges) was built by the brother of the cardinal who built Notre Dame de Paris. The two are very, very similar, except the one in Bourges is larger and has no transept. Beautiful stained glass windows and painted chapels made it spectacular.

At 7:00, after our tour, we went to dinner at Au Sénat restaurant for an amazing five-course meal.

We began with a toast of kir, followed by an amuse-bouche—a single bite to entice the palate. A tiny dish held pureed beets, topped with finely-chopped shallots, accompanied by a minute, thin piece of crisp toast. One lovely bite.

Next came the appetizers—something of a misnomer since any of them could have been an entrée. Larry had eggs poached in red wine. I had a terrific potato cake with sour cream and a green salad. I tried to pace myself, so I only took a couple of bites of each course.

Following that course, came the entrees. Larry chose the coq au vin with noodles, and I had roasted pork with lentils. Yummy!

Next came the cheese course, delicious warm, soft goat cheese on a thin piece of lightly-toasted bread.

Last, the desserts. Larry’s was a pear poached in red wine with vanilla ice cream. I had a pear tart with whipped cream.

I only tried a little of each course, but by the end of the meal, I was stuffed. Larry, of course, not only ate his but also most of mine.

We finished at about 9:30. The brisk walk back to the hotel helped to settle our dinner.

We went to bed at about ten o’clock, still full and ready for our next adventure.

To be continued...

France 2014 - Part 2

April 8 - Tuesday

We woke at 6:00 a.m. when the iPad buzzed. Larry tried the alarm app, and it worked. Of course, we could have set the alarm clock and awakened to music on the iPod like we do at home. Maybe tomorrow…

Breakfast was served between 6:30 and about 9:00a.m. Lots of choices: eggs cooked any way we wished, toast, baguettes, croissants, yogurt, cereal, fruit, etc. Larry fell in love with the Rube Goldberg-type orange juice squeezer. Insert one or two whole oranges, and it sliced them and squeezed a fresh glass. There was also a hot chocolate machine as well as hot water, coffee, milk, etc. The desk clerk told Larry the night before to get there early because the fresh bread went quickly. We split the last chocolate croissant as well as a plain one and a small baguette. Oh, the bread… Heaven!

We met another couple from the tour group, Ray and Rosemary from Seattle. They were traveling with another couple, Kent and Mary Jane. We sat and talked for quite a while. Then we headed out to take photos with the Eiffel Tower—just because we could!

On the way back, we bought some postcards to send home.

Returned to our room and wrote the cards. Larry downloaded a couple of photos and we posted them to Facebook. Took care of email and added more to my journal while listening to music.

Larry lay down and rested.

Went out again in search of a post office. Finally found it after walking through Les Invalides, the military museum and wandering around the local area. We loved the city for walking. So much to see in close proximity.

Returned to the room where we rested. Actually, Larry napped, but each time I dropped off, he started snoring...

At 5:00 we met our guide, Virginie Moré, and the rest of the group in the lobby. We walked down to La Terrasse again for dinner. There we introduced ourselves and got the basic information about the tour. The group consisted of 21 people plus our guide.

While we waited for our meal to be prepared, we walked to Rue Cler, the local walking street. By the time we got back, our meal service began. I started with onion soup, and Larry had quiche Lorraine. Our main courses were steak and chicken brochettes. We shared some of each.

Dessert was crème brûlée—fabulous!

We looked forward to the next day’s walking tour of the old city.

Back to the room for the evening, we washed some clothes and turned off the TV at 10:30.

April 9 – Wednesday

Our jam-packed day started off with breakfast in the hotel. Nice variety of food, and a chance to get to know a few of the folks on the trip. Lovely group of people.

At 8:30, we met in the lobby to get our Metro passes and our museum passes. We’d be using these for the next two days.

Like ducklings, we followed Virginie (pronounced Veer-gin-ee) down to the Metro station. (We had already discovered it in our strolls through the area.) Then underground and onto the train on the lavender line. A change at Concorde (beneath the Place de la Concorde —the ‘front door’ to the Louvre—above ground is a roundabout and an obelisk, as we’d discover later) to the yellow line. We all managed to stay together, and emerged in the center of the historical old city.

One of the things standard with a Rick Steves’ tour is the ‘buddy’ system. Each of us chose a buddy for the trip—someone other than our travel partner. Whenever the group convened, we did a ‘buddy check’ to make sure we were all accounted for. In actuality, we made two checks: one for our travel partner and the other for our buddy. Mine was Mas (Masatoshi Yamanaka), a retired orthopedic surgeon. Larry’s was Dick McConnell who owns a farm in Ohio. This seems a very efficient system for keeping track of each other.

There were only a couple of firm rules. First was: no grumps! If you groused, you had to smile and be pleasant. The second was: be on time. Beyond those two, the group was pretty flexible.

Along with seeing the sights, we received a great deal of the history of the city, starting on the Île de la Cité, the island in the Seine where the city started. 

Next, we went to Sainte-Chapelle, a gorgeous royal chapel with fantastic stained glass. They were restoring the building, and the process was impressive.

Next, we walked over to the Latin Quarter, the center of education. (It’s called the Latin Quarter because the Sorbonne started there, and the language of education was Latin.)

On to Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral. We learned a great deal about the construction of the church, including that it took two hundred years to complete. (Sainte-Chapelle, in contrast, required only six years.) The flying buttresses allowed for a tall, wide nave. The rose window was magnificent.

Mass was being held when we entered, so we circled the outer area. I was surprised at how many people were buried inside.

The church, like St. Peter’s in Rome, was filled with magnificent statuary. Larry took some wonderful photos both inside and out.

By the time we finished inside, it was nearly one o’clock, and we were hungry. We stopped at the little café across the street and had quiche and salad. All the food we ate in Paris was terrific, and this meal was no exception.

After lunch, we wandered along the river looking at the artwork for sale in the little kiosks which lined the walkway. I found a small print of the Eiffel Tower for our guest bathroom.

Then, some of us gathered again for the long hike to the Musee d’Orsay. (It’s either the Orsay Museum or Musee d’Orsay, but never just the d’Orsay.) This was one of the places I was most looking forward to seeing since it’s the home of the work of the Impressionists—my favorites.

They were featuring a special exhibit of the art of Van Gogh. We had missed it when it was in Los Angeles because we were in Japan at the time. But we decided to spend all our time on the French Impressionists. I adore Monet, and the museum has many of his works, some of which are very famous and familiar. We had tickets to go again when we returned to Paris at the end of the trip, so we figured we’d see the Van Gogh exhibit then.

The weather was quite warm, and it affected me badly. The walk back to the hotel felt extremely long and hot, but we made it. There we lay down and took a rest.

In the early evening, we set out again. Larry needed sunscreen, and I had used the last of the Band-Aids for the blisters I’d developed the night of the welcome dinner when I wore a pair of shoes I hadn’t had on for several years. I bought more bandages. After we got our items, we checked Rue Cler, but none of the restaurants there appealed to us. Instead, we decided to look at the ones on the way back to the hotel. We finally stopped at the Café de Officiers, around the corner.

I ordered a club sandwich, and Larry had the chicken dinner. We sat inside next to the window to try to avoid the cigarette smoke outdoors. However, right outside the door next to us, a man lit up a cigar. The smell was terrible, so we moved. Another couple seated near the door also moved next to us.

Turns out Geoff and Ariana were from Australia. We enjoyed a lovely meal talking to our new friends.

Back at the hotel, we went to bed early because we were still exhausted from all the walking.

To be continued...